


Educative

by unwindmyself



Series: curious shapes shift in the dark [91]
Category: True Blood
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/F, F/M, Female Friendship, Femslash, Fix-It, Gen, Lectures, Multi, Sex Education, agency and choices!, sex positivity
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-04
Updated: 2015-07-04
Packaged: 2018-04-07 15:01:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,058
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4267719
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/unwindmyself/pseuds/unwindmyself
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>True to her promise Nora presents a comprehensive lecture on gender, sexuality, and kink for the babies' benefit.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Educative

**Author's Note:**

> Part four, "Slow Love."

“I’m pretty sure this lesson’s just for the babies,” Pam says to Amber.  “We coulda skipped out.”

Amber smirks.  “You kiddin’, I love watchin’ babies discover the world,” she replies, probably not even joking.  “Plus, I kinda wanna watch the chancellor present.  Get a feel for her style.”  There is, however, an ironic twist to that.

“Oh, it’s gonna be a treat,” Pam agrees wryly.

The vampires and fairies alike have been lazing around day after day and night after night this week, spending time in a state of semi-permanent sleepovers - as Pam explained, “it’s only fitting a royal court should live leisurely.”  And every of those days when the other vampires have gone to sleep, Nora has stayed up compiling what can only be described as the material for a lecture, like she promised.

Tonight, she’s approximated a classroom on Fangtasia’s dance floor and invited anyone who wants to to join in the fun.

“You know you’re unbelievable,” Eric murmurs to his sister as she sets up the PowerPoint presentation.

“Thank you,” she chirps.  She turns to the assembly - all girls, the Bellefleurs and Jessica and Willa (Pam and Tara and Amber are all seated at the bar watching-but-not-watching) - and beams.  “Shall we start with gender, perhaps?”

“What is there to say about that?” Charlaine asks.

“Lots, in fact,” Nora declares cheerfully, starting the slideshow.  The first slide simply reads:

> gen·der  
>  _noun_  
>  noun: **gender**  
>  the state of being male or female (typically used with reference to social and cultural differences rather than biological ones).  
>  "traditional concepts of gender"

“So boys and girls,” Braelyn surmises.

“Traditionally, yes,” Nora says.  “Gender has long been thought of as binary, meaning it’s either one or the other, you’re either male or female based on the biological organs you’re born with and you perform a variety of stereotypical behaviors accordingly, but it’s never been that simple and more recently this has started to be understood by a wider variety of people.”

The girls all look perplexed, even Jessica and Willa, and Nora changes the slide.

> cis·gen·der  
>  _adjective_  
>  adjective: **cisgender** ; adjective: **cis-gender** ; adjective: **cisgendered** ; adjective: **cis-gendered**  
>  denoting or relating to a person whose self-identity conforms with the gender that corresponds to their biological sex; not transgender.

“I would venture a guess that most of us here are cisgendered,” Nora says.  “I was born biologically a woman and have always felt comfortable identifying as a woman.”

> trans·gen·der  
>  _adjective_  
>  adjective: **transgender** ; adjective: **transgendered**
> 
>   1. noting or relating to a person whose gender identity does not correspond to that person’s biological sex assigned at birth: the transgender movement; transgender rights.
> 
>   2. noting or relating to a person who does not conform to societal gender norms or roles.
> 
> 


“But those who don’t identify with their biologically assigned sex are transgender, or simply trans in conversation,” Nora continues.  “There are other categories, agender and bigender and genderqueer and such, but unless any of you want further clarification on this at this exact moment I’d suggest I put this on hold and refer you to your friend Isi for more explanation.”

“Why?” Danika asks.

“While many of our group don’t subscribe to gender roles full-force, Isi is to my knowledge the only gender-variant individual,” Nora shrugs.  “He uses male pronouns, but he describes himself as a two-spirit, an individual with both a male and female spirit inside his body.  It’s a fairly accepted identity in Native American communities, and he’s already assured me he’d be happy to explain more, were you curious.”

The Bellefleur girls shrug at each other.  “That could be kinda interesting,” Adilyn agrees.  “But uh, could we talk about sexy stuff now?”

Eric and Pam catch each other’s eyes across the room and snicker.

“Of course,” Nora says, and the slide changes.

> het·er·o·sex·u·al  
>  _adjective_  
>  adjective: **heterosexual**  
>  (of a person) sexually attracted to people of the opposite sex.  
>  synonyms: **straight** ; **hetero** ; **het**

“Straight,” Nora declares.  “Like Sookie.  I’m fairly sure like Sam and Luna.”

“Like I thought I was ‘fore you,” Jessica says, grinning coyly at Nora.

“Like I tried to pretend to be to keep my dad happy,” Willa adds.

> ho·mo·sex·u·al  
>  _adjective_  
>  adjective: **homosexual**  
>  (of a person) sexually attracted to people of one's own sex.  
>  _noun_  
>  noun: **homosexual** ; plural noun: **homosexuals**  
>  a person who is sexually attracted to people of their own sex.

“Gay,” Nora says.  “The word gay is most commonly ascribed to homosexual men, for example, Lafayette is a gay man.  Gay women are more likely to be referred to as lesbians.  Our new chancellor Evelyn is a lesbian.  She’s exclusively interested in women, sexually.”

“What about if you mostly only wanna have sex with women but sometimes you get crushy feelings for guys?” Willa asks.

“That’s the difference between romantic orientation and sexual orientation,” Nora says kindly, “and we’ll cover that in a moment.  First, though.”

> bi·sex·u·al  
>  _adjective_  
>  adjective: **bisexual**  
>  sexually attracted to both men and women.  
>  _noun_  
>  noun: **bisexual** ; plural noun: **bisexuals**  
>  a person who is sexually attracted to both men and women.

“Bisexuality describes a wide range of sexual preferences,” Nora says.  “It’s commonly been described using the Kinsey scale, where zero represents completely heterosexual and six represents completely homosexual, and the numbers in between slide accordingly.  You have your ones, like Eric -” she pauses to let him wave with a sardonic smile - “who primarily like sex with the opposite gender but have experienced a few same-sex attractions and bonds, your twos, like Amber back there -”

“Yo,” Amber chuckles.  “I get with more guys than girls, but I’m into girls too.”

“Your threes, like myself, who like both genders equally,” Nora continues, smiling at both of her paramours in turn.  “Fours, like Tara -”

“I haven’t been into a dude in a while,” Tara shrugs, “but I’ve been into them and I wasn’t just confused.”

“And fives, like Pam -”

“I prefer the term ‘queer’ to bisexual, but yeah,” Pam shrugs.  “It takes a lot for a guy to do it for me.”

“Holy shit,” Braelyn breathes out.  “That’s intense.  D’you think that’s why the whole bicurious thing happened?  ‘Cause some people are less bi than others?”

“The term bicurious originated because people wanted a simple and heteronormative way to explain nonstandard sexual desires,” Nora rolls her eyes.  “Heteronormative: viewing everything through a lens based on heterosexuality.  Society is, as a rule, heteronormative.”

“Seriously,” Willa says.  “Straight till proven gay, that kinda shit.”

Nora nods.  “It’s marginally better nowadays, but emphasis on marginally,” she agrees.  “That brings us to your earlier question.  The difference between sexual and romantic orientation.”  She switches slides.  “Sexual orientation is who you’re interested in having sex with or to what degree you’re interested in sex at all.  Romantic orientation is who you’re interested in having a romantic relationship with or to what degree you’re interested in having a romantic relationship at all.”  She purses her lips at Willa.  “Based on what you described earlier, I would suggest that you’re strongly bisexual, Kinsey five to use the scale, but more evenly biromantic.”

“Huh,” Willa says.  “I kinda like that.”

“What did you mean, to what degree?” Charlaine asks.

“Well, then you’re getting into the asexual spectrum,” Nora declares.

> a·sex·u·al  
>  _adjective_  
>  adjective: **asexual**  
>  the lack of sexual attraction or interest in anyone, and/or a disinterest in partnered sexual activity.  
>  _noun_  
>  noun: **asexual** ; plural noun: **asexuals**  
>  a person who is not sexually attracted to or interested in anyone.

“Asexuals, like your friends Devi and Rhys,” Nora says with a nod in Adilyn’s direction, “are disinterested in sex, and contrary to popular allegedly funny belief they are neither plants nor robots.  Some asexual people are romantically attracted to people, and some may have sex drives but not experience attraction.  The asexual spectrum, like the bisexual spectrum, spans a range of interest or disinterest in sex.  Graysexuals, who are ‘mostly’ asexual but occasionally not, demisexuals, who only experience sexual attraction when they feel an emotional bond with someone -”

“Oh,” Adilyn says.

“And the same goes for romantic orientation,” Nora continues.

> a·ro·man·tic  
>  _adjective_  
>  adjective: **aromantic**  
>  the lack of romantic attraction or interest in anyone, and/or a disinterest in romantic relationships.  
>  _noun_  
>  noun: **aromantic** ; plural noun: **aromantics**  
>  a person who is not romantically attracted to or interested in anyone.

“Aromantics, I’m fairly sure like your friend Antoine,” Nora says, “are disinterested in romance.  Some aromantics experience sexual attraction, but some do not.  And there are grayromantics and demiromantics and all such things as well.”

In spite of herself, Pam pipes up, “Grayromantic right here, I’m thinkin’.”

“And what about the other stuff?” Braelyn asks quietly.  “What we, uh, saw the other night.”

Nora nods.  This part is a bit more difficult for her to talk about, but it’s important.  “Kink is not an orientation, per se, but it’s just as much a sliding scale,” she says.  “You have your completely unkinky, or vanilla, people -”

“Like Sookie,” Charlaine supplies.

“Sookie dates vampires, she’s gotta be a little kinky,” Braelyn giggles.

“She may not have the kinks that come to mind when you think ‘kinky sex,’” Eric offers, “but she’s not as vanilla as she seems.”

“Thank you,” Nora rolls her eyes.  “There are those who play at it occasionally, there are those who play more seriously, like myself, and there are those who actually live it 24/7, which I can’t imagine doing.  Kink practitioners are often divided into dominants or tops, submissives or bottoms, and switches, who fill either role depending on the situation, their partner, their mood, or what have you.  I myself am a switch.”

“And a very dedicated one at that,” Eric interjects.  “I’ve never watched her domme, exactly, but she’s apparently quite hardcore about it, and when she subs she’s just as intense.”

“The dominant is the one making the rules and doing the ordering about and claiming,” Nora continues, smiling faintly.  “They’ll likely be the ones doing the tying-up if bondage is involved or inflicting the pain if painplay is involved.  The sadist, in that case.  The submissive, then, is the one following rules, being claimed, being tied up, playing the masochist and getting spanked or whipped or caned or paddled or -”

“Jeez,” Danika murmurs.

“Kink can be bondage, painplay, sensory deprivation, service, sensation play, any number of things,” Nora continues.  “It’s different for everyone.”  She shrugs self-effacingly.  “It has to involve a fair amount of trust, though.  The dominant has to trust that their submissive will let them know if it gets to be too much - often using a safeword, a word that the submissive is unlikely to use in the heat of the moment that they can say if things get to be too much; it’s often something random and/or meaningful, but it can also be as simple as red for stop and yellow for slow down like traffic signals - and trust that their submissive will really let them take control for the duration of the scene.  And the submissive has to trust that the dominant will take care of them.  It’s a fine line, but when it can be walked it can enhance a relationship uniquely.”

“So, you like lettin’ Eric tie you up ‘cause you trust him,” Adilyn prompts.

“Yes,” Nora agrees.  “And I like letting go.  I’m sure you’ve all noticed that I’m something of a control freak, so having an outlet to not have to worry about that, to let myself be taken care of, to let myself just relax, is precious to me.”  It’s said almost shyly, but it’s true.  “The popular image is dominant man/submsisive woman, but that’s not always true, and it’s been proven statistically that the majority of men and women are more likely to have submissive tendencies, for whatever reason.”

“Can you do kinky stuff if you’re not havin’ sex?” Willa asks softly.

“Of course you can,” Nora exclaims.  “Kinky making out, kinky hanging out, kinky whatever you like.  Sex can be involved as little or as much as you like.”

She’s smirking at Eric as she says the last, but when a silence falls over the room she turns back to face the girls.  All six of them look somewhere between stunned and just like they’re taking it in slowly.

Finally Adilyn asks, “Could we, uh, get those slides printed off for us?”

**Author's Note:**

> Definitions from Google and various wiki entries. Research assistance provided by my dear Shadowcrawler.


End file.
